Handwritten Recipe Books

 I am the very proud owner of quite a few handwritten recipe books that have been passed down though my family. I have two from my dad’s side of the family and two from my mom’s side.  My dad is all Polish, his family immigrated from Poland and kept many of the Polish cooking traditions alive and well. My mom’s side of the family is a mix of Irish and Eastern European and cooked similar things to my dad’s family. 

Pages from my Great Aunt's cookbook

I grew up eating Haluski, Pierogies, Galumpkis (cabbage rolls), homemade Kielbasa and many other wonderful dishes. My great grandmother made wine, pickles, and even head cheese in her summer kitchen using the vegetables from her garden and I will be following her handwritten directions to do the same. 

Handwritten cards and newspaper clippings from my mom's family

All of these recipes have been passed on to me through these handwritten cookbooks. Sometimes the recipes are in a mix of Polish and English or Slavic and English and have directions like use enough water to make the dough sticky but not wet… but that makes the books even more precious. If you are lucky enough to have an old family cookbook dig it out and start cooking from it. I bet those are some of the best dishes you will ever make and you will be keeping very important traditions alive. 

I am going to be sharing some of my family recipes from these cookbooks. Some of them will be very old recipes and some added from the younger generations but all of them will use a lot of butter and taste fantastic!  I am lucky to have an extremely strong food heritage and I am excited to start sharing that with you.